Internet facsimile apparatus and e-mail receiving method

ABSTRACT

A blank determining section performs scanning of a text part of e-mail when receiving e-mail. The scanning of text part is carried out up to a next boundary. After the end of scanning, the blank determining section determines whether or not there is any code other than unprintable codes such as a blank, a tab, a line feed, and the like. Since the text part is composed of only a line feed, the blank determining section clears data of the text part from a mail reception memory area. An image part is normally printed. As a result, the printing of text part is skipped, and only the image part is printed. This makes it possible to prevent a useless output and an output of inconvenient information.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an Internet facsimile apparatus thatreceives and transmits image information over a computer network usinge-mail, and relates to an e-mail receiving method.

2. Description of the Related Art

Recently, an Internet facsimile apparatus (hereinafter referred to asIFAX) that receives and transmits data over the Internet using e-mail asdisclosed in Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication HEI No. 8-242326 andits corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 5,881,233, has come into practical use.

When IFAX, which has a printer built-in or connected thereto, receivese-mail, IFAX automatically prints text included in e-mail and thecontent of an image file appended to e-mail using the printer.

In the conventional IFAX checks whether or not e-mail is in a multipartformat according to MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension) whenreceiving e-mail. Here, if the multipart format is used, IFAX checkswhether or not there are a text part and an attachment file part, andprints the content of each part, which have been found with thischecking, using the printer.

In a case where only an attachment file is added without describinganything in the text part, a certain mailer adds a line feed code to thetext part, generates a multipart mail, which is composed of a blank textpart and an attachment file part, and transmits it. When theconventional IFAX receives e-mail from such a mailer, IFAX performsprinting without checking the content if there is the text part, withthe result that a blank page corresponding to the text part is printed.

Moreover, a certain mailer inserts a text, which is preregistered as asignature, into a text part automatically. In a case where only anattachment file is added without describing anything in the text part,this mailer generates a multipart mail, which is composed of a textpart, which includes only a signature, and an attachment file part, andtransmits it. If the conventional IFAX receives e-mail from such amailer, IFAX prints a meaningless page, which includes only thesignature corresponding to the text part.

Thus, the conventional IFAX has a problem in which a waste of power andan increase in printing time are caused.

While, there is proposed a technique in which a specific command isembedded in a text part of e-mail and this specific command isrecognized by IFAX on the receiving side to carry out processing, whichcorresponds to the command, as disclosed in Unexamined Japanese PatentPublication HEI No. 9-116728 and its corresponding U.S. Pat. No.5,812,278. In this case, if the conventional IAX prints the text part,the command is also printed.

Moreover, at the time of sending e-mail having the same content to aplurality of IFAXes, there is a case in which a user wishes to include aserial number for management or a message such as “importance” in themail in order to manage e-mail transmitted. In this case, if theconventional IAX prints the text part, information for sender managementis also printed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has been made in consideration of theabove-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is toprovide an Internet facsimile apparatus, which is capable of preventinga useless output and an output of inconvenient information, and toprovide an e-mail receiving method.

In order to achieve the above object, not only the presence or absenceof a text part but also the content of the text part is analyzed, andwhether or not the output of the text part is performed is determinedbased on the analytical result. This makes it possible to prevent auseless output without outputting the text part in a case where nocontent to be output is included in the text part.

The present invention removes a character string inserted between a pairof predetermined codes, and outputs a text part. This makes it possibleto prevent an output of unnecessary or inconvenient content, which iscaused when a sender inserts a character string such as a command andinformation for sender management between the pair of predeterminedcodes.

In this case, the output includes the printing of received data whenIFAX on the receiver side comprises a printer, facsimile transmission ofreceived data when IFAX comprises a facsimile transmission function, andthe display of received data when IFAX comprises a display device.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects and features of the invention will appearmore fully hereinafter from a consideration of the following descriptiontaken in connection with the accompanying drawing wherein one example isillustrated by way of example, in which;

FIG. 1 is a conceptual view showing a network where IFAX according to afirst embodiment of the present invention operates;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing hardware of IFAX according to thefirst embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a basic function of IFAX according tothe first embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a function of receiving e-mail in IFAXaccording to the first embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a view showing one example of e-mail with image data in whicha text part is blank;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing print processing of e-mail data in IFAXaccording to the first embodiment;

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a function of receiving e-mail in IFAXaccording to a second embodiment;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing print processing of e-mail data in IFAXaccording to the second embodiment; and

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing text processing in IFAX according to thesecond embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The following will specifically explain embodiments of the presentinvention with reference to the drawings attached thereto.

First Embodiment

FIG. 1 is a conceptual view showing a network where IFAX according to afirst embodiment of the present invention operates.

IFAX 1 according to the first embodiment is connected to a local areanetwork (LAN) 2. A mail server 3 and PC 4 are connected to LAN 2.

LAN 2 is connected to Internet 5, and other LAN 6 is connected toInternet 5. A mail server 7, IFAX 8 and PC 9 are connected to LAN 6.This configuration allows IFAX 1 to receive image information usinge-mail from IFAX 8 or PC 9 over Internet 5.

Moreover, IFAX 1 can function as a gateway between Internet 5 and PSTN10. Namely, IFAX 1 converts e-mail data received from IFAX 8 or PC 9,which serves as a sender, to facsimile data and transmits it to G3FAXes11 and 12. However, IFAX 1 cannot necessarily operate as a gateway.

On the other hand, IFAX 1 is connected to public switched telephonenetwork (PSTN) 8, and this makes it possible to transmit imageinformation to G3FAXes 11 and 12 by a facsimile procedure.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing hardware of IFAX according to thefirst embodiment. CPU 21 executes a program, and controls the entiretyof the apparatus. ROM 22 stores the program, which CPU 21 executes.

RAM 23 has a work area where the program is executed and a buffer areawhere various data such as e-mail, image file, etc., is temporarilystored.

A FAX voice processing section 24 modulates facsimile data and a voice,and outputs modulated data to PSTN 10. Then, the FAX voice processingsection 24 demodulates modulated data received from PSTN 10 to facsimiledata and voice data.

A scanner 25 scans an original to obtain image information. A printer 26prints various data including received image information.

A LAN interface 27 executes a procedure, which is necessary forreceiving and transmitting data over LAN 2.

A panel control section 28 comprises dial keys and a touch panel, andreceives operations such as a designation of a communication partner, aninstruction of transmission starting, and the like by an operator.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a basic function of IFAX according tothe first embodiment.

This IFAX transmits and receives e-mail using LAN interface 27 via acomputer network such as LAN 2 and the like. More specifically, an imagecompressing section 31 compresses raw image information (for example,bitmap data), which has been scanned by the scanner 25, in a compressionformat, for example, MH, so as to obtain a compressed file. Thecompression is performed in unit of one page of the original. Next, aTIFF converting section 32 converts these compressed files to one TIFF(Tag Image File Format) file. An e-mail generating section 33 attachesthis TIFF file to a multipart mail in accordance with, for example, MIME(Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension). By processing so far, imageinformation is converted to e-mail format. A mail transmitting section34 transmits this e-mail via LAN interface 27 using a mail transferprotocol such as SMTP and the like.

On the other hand, a mail receiving section 35 receives e-mail via theLAN interface 27 using a mail transfer protocol such as SMTP, POP (PostOffice Protocol), etc. This e-mail is a multipart mail, and the TIFFfile is converted to character data, that is, text code, and appended toan attachment file part. A binary converting section 36 binary convertsthe text code of the image data part (attachment file part) of themultipart mail so as to obtain the TIFF file. The binary conversion isthat text-code data is converted to binary data. Namely, data, which istext-coded using base 64, is binarized to be back to the original imagedata.

A TIFF decompressing section 37 opens this TIFF file. An imagedecompressing section 38 decompresses a compressed file included in thisTIFF file to obtain row image information. By processing so far, e-mailis converted to an image information format.

Next, the reception of e-mail and the printing in the above-mentionedIFAX 1 will be specifically explained. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showinga function of receiving e-mail in IFAX according to the firstembodiment.

E-mail data received via LAN 2 or Internet 5 is once stored to a mailreception memory area 41 of RAM 23. A data pattern analyzing section 42analyzes e-mail data stored in the mail reception memory area 41. Thedata pattern analyzing section 42 distinguishes the text part and theimage data part from the e-mail data based on a subheader of e-mail datarespectively.

Regarding the text part, a blank determining section 43 determineswhether or not the text part is blank. If it is not the blank part, abitmap converting section 44 converts text data (code signal) includedin the text part to binary data (bitmap data). Sequentially, an MH dataconverting section 45 compresses binary data to MH data. This MH data issent to the printer 26 and stored in the memory of the printer 26.

Moreover, if the text part is the blank, text part data stored in thememory reception memory area 41 is erased.

While, regarding the image data part, as mentioned above, the binaryconverting section 36 binary converts the text code of the image datapart to obtain the TIFF file. The TIFF decompressing section 37 opensthis TIFF file to extract MH data. This MH data is sent to the printer26, and stored in the printer 26.

In the aforementioned first embodiment, since the printer 26 performsdecompression of MH data received by the facsimile procedure and theprinting, and the printer 26 also serves as a printer for FAX.

Here, the point that the text part is blank means that the text part iscomposed of only unprintable codes instead of the fact that the textpart is included in the e-mail. The unprintable codes indicate thoseother than printable codes such as a character, a symbol, a numeric, andthe like, and they do not appear even if the printing is performed inthe text code, which is used in e-mail. Specifically, a blank, a tab, aline feed, and the like are included.

FIG. 5 is a view showing one example of e-mail with image data in whicha text part is blank.

This e-mail can be largely divided into a header portion 51 and a bodyportion 52. The body portion 52 is divided into a plurality of parts byboundaries 53, which are defined by the header portion 51. A subheader55 is described at the first portion of each part to indicate thecontent of each part. In this example, a subheader 54 of the first part(hereinafter referred to as text part) indicates text data, and asubheader 55 of the second part indicates image data. The body of thetext part of this e-mail is composed of only a feed line code 57. Next,an explanation will be given of each step of e-mail data printprocessing in IFAX according to the first embodiment. The followingspecifically exemplifies a case of processing E-mail shown in FIG. 5.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing print processing of e-mail data in IFAXaccording to the first embodiment.

When IFAX 1 receives e-mail (step (hereinafter referred to as ST) 601),the data pattern analyzing section 42 analyzes the header portion 51(ST602) to determine whether or not received e-mail is a multipartstructure (ST603).

Here, if e-mail is the multipart structure, the data pattern analyzingsection 42 analyzes the subheader 54 of the first part (ST604). Then,the data pattern analyzing section 42 determines whether or the firstpart is a text part based on the analytical result (ST605). In e-mailshown in FIG. 5, since the first part is text part 56, the operationgoes to ST606 and a blank determining section 43 performs the scanningof text part. The scanning of text part 56 is performed up to the nextboundary.

After scanning, the blank determining section 43 determines whether ornot the text part 56 includes codes other than unprintable codes such asthe blank, tab, line feed, and the like (ST607). In e-mail shown in FIG.5, since the text part 56 is composed of only a line feed code 57, theblank determining section 43 clears data of text part 56 from the mailreception memory area 41.

Thereafter, the data pattern analyzing section 42 determines whether ornot there is a part following the currently analyzed part (ST609). Inthis example, since there is an image part 58 following the text part56, the operation goes back to ST604. The data pattern analyzing section42 analyzes the subheader 55 of image part 58 to determine whether ornot it is the text part (ST605). Since this part is the image part 58,the image part 58 is normally printed in ST610.

Thereafter, since e-mail shown in FIG. 5 has no part that follows theimage part 58 in ST609, the operation is ended. As a result, theprinting of text part 56 is skipped, and only image part 58 is printed.

If e-mail is not the multipart structure in ST603, e-mail is normallyprinted in ST610. Moreover, in ST607, if the text part 56 includes codesother than unprintable codes, the print processing is performed inST610, and the text part is also printed.

As explained above, according to IFAX 1 relating to the firstembodiment, the content of text part 56 of received e-mail is analyzed.Then, if the text part 56 is composed of only the unprintable code suchas a blank, tap, line feed and the like, the printing of text part 56 isskipped. Since this eliminates the need for performing unnecessaryprinting, waist of recording paper can be eliminated and printing timeand consumption power for printing can be reduced.

Second Embodiment

Next, an explanation will be given of IFAX of the second embodiment ofthe present invention, which does not print the code inserted betweenthe specific codes in the text part of e-mail.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a function of receiving e-mail in IFAXaccording to a second embodiment. The same reference numerals as thoseof IFX 1 of the first embodiment are added to the same configurations asthose of IFAX 1 of the first embodiment, and the explanation is omitted.

IFAX of the second embodiment differs from that of the first embodimentin the point that a text processing section 71 is provided in place ofthe blank determining section 43 of FIG. 4. If there is a code, which isinserted between a pair of specific codes, in the text part, this textprocessing section 71 performs text processing in which, for example,these codes are replaced with unprintable codes such as a blank code.Thus, the text processing can contain text editing, text manipulation,text revision, text synthesis or the likes.

The following will explain the print processing of e-mail data in IFAXaccording to the second embodiment. FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing theprint processing of e-mail data in IFAX according to the secondembodiment. FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing text processing in IFAXaccording to the second embodiment.

The following will explain a case in which a character code (hereinafterinsert portion), which is inserted between a pair of codes, “/*” and“*/” in the text part, is not printed.

When e-mail is received (ST801), the data pattern analyzing section 42analyzes the header portion 51 (ST802) to determine whether or notreceived e-mail is the multipart structure (ST803).

Here, if e-mail is the multipart structure, the data pattern analyzingsection 42 analyzes the subheader 54 of the first part (ST804). The datapattern analyzing section 42 determines whether or not the first part isthe text part based on the analytical result (ST805). Since the firstpart is text part 56 in e-mail shown in FIG. 5, the operation goes toST806, and the text processing section 71 provides text processing shownin FIG. 9 to the text part 56.

In the text processing, the text processing section 71 first sets a flagto zero (ST901). Next, the text processing section 71 reads the textcode from the mail reception memory area 41 in order of the top one byone up to the number of units (two in this case) (ST902). Then, the textprocessing section 71 determines whether or not the read text code isthe end of text code. More specifically, if e-mail is the multipart, theboundary line is determined as an end of text code. If not, only theline including only a period, which is always added to the end of themail massage, is determined as an end of text code.

If the text code is not the end, it is determined whether or not theread text code is the code “/*” of the top portion (ST904). If it is not“/*”, it is determined whether or the read text code is the code “*/” ofthe end portion (ST905). In the case of the general text code, since thetext code does not correspond to either of ST904 and ST905, theoperation goes back to ST902, and a next text code is read from onememory, and the determination is performed in ST904 and ST905. The stepsST902 through ST905 are repeated, and this allows the text part 56 to bescanned until the code “/*” is found out.

If the code “/*” is found out by scanning the text part 56, that is, thetext code read in ST904 is “/*”, it is determined whether or not theflag is 1 (ST906). Since the flag is normally zero, the flag is set to 1(ST907). Next, the position of the read text code is stored in a memorystart position address as a start position P (ST908), and the operationgoes back to ST902.

Thereafter, the text part 56 is scanned to find out the code “/*”(namely, in the case where the text code read in ST905 is “*/”).

In the case where the text code read in ST905 is “*/”, it is determinedwhether or not the flag is 1 (ST909). In the normal case, the flag is 1since this is after “/*” is previously found out. Next, the flag isreturned to zero (ST910), and then the positions, which are from thestart position P stored in the start position address in ST908 to theposition of the text code currently read, are determined as insertportions, and these insert portions are replaced with a blank code(ST911). Thereafter, the operation goes back to ST902, and the scanningof text part 56 is continued up to the end of text code.

The determination whether or not the flag is 1 in ST906 and ST909 iscarried out to prevent an unintended code from being replaced with ablank code when “/*” and “*/” are included between the pair of specificcodes “/*” and “*/” as a common code which is desirably printed.

After the text processing is thus ended, the text part 56 is printed(ST807).

Thereafter, the data pattern analyzing section 42 determines whether ornot there is a part, which follows the currently analyzed part (ST808).In this example, since there is an image part 58, which follows the textpart 56, the operation goes back to ST804. The data pattern analyzingsection 42 analyzes the subheader 55 of image part 58 to determinewhether or not it is the text part (ST805) Since this part is image part58, the image part 58 is normally printed in ST807. Thereafter, sincee-mail shown in FIG. 5 has no part following the image part 58 in ST808,processing is ended.

While, if e-mail shown in FIG. 5 is not the multipart structure inST803, e-mail is normally printed in ST808.

As explained above, according to IFAX of the second embodiment, whene-mail is received, the text part 56 of e-mail is analyzed and theinsert portion inserted between the pair of predetermined codes isreplaced with the blank code. As a result, even if text part 56 isprinted by the printer later, the insert portion may not be printed.Therefore, in a case where a sender has information which is undesirablyshown to a recipient, when generating e-mail using PC, such informationis written to the text part 56 of e-mail as an insert portion. As aresult, the sender can view the insert portion using the file copy butthe recipient cannot view the insert portion.

As a more specific form using the above, there is a case in which aserial number or a message such as “importance” is included in the textpart 56 of e-mail when PC sends image information to IFAX using e-mail.In this case, by writing the serial number to the text part 56 as aninsert portion, the sender can manage e-mail transmitted using theserial number or the message, while the serial number or the message isnot printed on the recipient side, so that there is no fear thatunnecessary or inconvenient information will be known to the recipient.

Moreover, there is a case in which a specific command is embedded in thetext part 56 of e-mail, and the embedded command is recognized by IFAX1, and processing, which corresponds to the command, is performed. Inthis case, by writing the command to the text part 56 as an insertportion, IFAX 1 may not print the command.

In the above-explained second embodiment, the insert portion is placedwith the blank code. However, such an insert portion may be deleted, orreplaced with other unprintable code such as a tab.

The specific codes are not limited to those described in the secondembodiment. For example, a symbol such as “#” and “//” may be used as atop portion and the end portion may be used as a line feed. In thiscase, as in a comment text used in a program source, a logical row,which is started with these specific codes, is replaced with a blankcode, and this replacement makes it to prevent the logical row frombeing printed.

In many cases, the signature of e-mail is enclosed with codes such as“#”, “-”, “*.” The area enclosed with such specific codes is replayedwith a blank code, and this replacement makes it possible to prevent thesignature from being printed.

The above first and second embodiments explained the case in which thetext part was printed by the printer. The present invention, however, isnot limited to this case. The preset invention can be widely applied tothe output of e-mail. For example, the present invention can be appliedto a case in which the text part of e-mail is converted to facsimileimage data to be transmitted to the other facsimile apparatus by thefacsimile procedure when the text part of e-mail is displayed on thedisplay device.

For example, as shown in FIG. 1, in a case where IFAX 1 on the recipientside is used as a gateway for LAN 2 and PSTN 12 to transmit e-mail fromPC 4 to PC in own company and client's G3 facsimiles 11 and 12, theinvention relating to the second embodiment can be applied. At thistime, a certain message is inserted between a pair of codes when e-mailis generated by sender PC. This e-mail is transmitted to PC in owncompany and client's G3 facsimiles. The user of PC in own company candirectly view the message included in the text part. However, therecipients of G3 facsimiles 11 and 12 cannot view the message since IFAX1 replaces the message with the blank code and converts e-mail data to afacsimile image to be transmitted to G3 facsimiles 11 and 12. Thus,according to the present invention, it is possible to selectivelytransmit the message to only a specific communication partner.

As explained above, according to the present invention, the content ofthe text part of e-mail is analyzed, and whether or not the output oftext part is performed is determined based on the analytical result.Therefore, when the content to be output is not included in the textpart, the output of text part is not carried out. This makes it possibleto prevent a useless output, and to reduce processing time andconsumption power.

Moreover, according to the present invention, the text part is outputafter removing the character string inserted between the pair of fixedcodes in the text part of e-mail. This makes it possible to preventunnecessary or inconvenient information from being output on therecipient side.

The present invention is not limited to the above described embodiments,and various variations and modifications may be possible withoutdeparting from the scope of the present invention.

This application is based on the Japanese Patent Application No.HEI11-368837 filed on Dec. 27, 1999, entire content of which isexpressly incorporated by reference herein.

1. An Internet facsimile apparatus, comprising: an interface configuredto receive e-mail; a printer configured to print the e-mail; and acontroller configured to: determine whether the received e-mail includesa text part when it is determined that the received e-mail comprises amultipart structure; and determine whether the text part includes only apredetermined code, the received e-mail being printed without printing atext part page when it is determined that the text part includes onlythe predetermined code.
 2. The Internet facsimile apparatus according toclaim 1, wherein the predetermined code comprises a code representing aspace.
 3. The Internet facsimile apparatus according to claim 1, whereinthe predetermined code comprises a code representing a tab.
 4. TheInternet facsimile apparatus according to claim 1, wherein thepredetermined code comprises a code representing a line feed.
 5. AnInternet facsimile apparatus, comprising: an interface configured toreceive e-mail; a printer configured to print the e-mail; and acontroller configured to: determine whether the received e-mail includesa text part when it is determined that the received e-mail comprises amultipart structure; determine whether the text part includes only apredetermined code; and determine whether image data is attached to thereceived e-mail, the image data being printed without printing a textpart page when it is determined that the text part includes only thepredetermined code.
 6. The Internet facsimile apparatus according toclaim 5, wherein the predetermined code comprises a code representing aspace.
 7. The Internet facsimile apparatus according to claim 5, whereinthe predetermined code comprises a code representing a tab.
 8. TheInternet facsimile apparatus according to claim 5, wherein thepredetermined code comprises a code representing a line feed.
 9. Ane-mail receiving method, comprising: receiving e-mail; determiningwhether the received e-mail includes a text part when it is determinedthat the received e-mail comprises a multipart structure; anddetermining whether the text part includes only a predetermined code,the received e-mail being printed without printing a text part page whenit is determined that the text part includes only the predeterminedcode.
 10. An e-mail receiving method, comprising: receiving e-mail;determining whether the received e-mail includes a text part when it isdetermined that the received e-mail comprises a multipart structure;determining whether the text part includes only a predetermined code;and determine whether image data is attached to the received e-mail, theimage data being printed without printing a text part page when it isdetermined that the text part includes only the predetermined code.